Second ex-officer sentenced for ticket fixing

WESTMINSTER – A former Huntington Beach police officer was sentenced Friday to a year's probation and 30 days in jail for conspiring with a former Garden Grove officer to dismiss a woman's traffic ticket.

Erik Michael Krause, 44, had been found guilty by an Orange County jury last year with Michael John Zannitto, 47, of one misdemeanor count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

In January, Zannitto received the same sentence as Krause at the Westminster Justice Center. Both will be spared jail time if they each complete 100 hours of community service.

At the time of the crime, Krause was a 22-year veteran of the Huntington Beach Police Department, and Zannitto was an 11-year member of the Garden Grove Police Department, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said in a news release. Both no longer work with the departments.

In November 2011, Krause issued the 32-year-old woman a ticket, and later that month, Zannitto met her at Knott's Berry Farm when he was off-duty. He got in touch with Krause, whom he did not know before speaking of the ticket, and Krause eventually agreed to dismiss the ticket, prosecutors said.

A Huntington Beach lieutenant became suspicious and initiated an investigation, the district attorney's news release said. Huntington Beach police investigated the case with cooperation from Garden Grove police, according to prosecutors.